


nobody's there

by thisprentiss



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Angst, Hallucinations, Post-Episode: s07e05 The Angels Take Manhattan, Self-Harm, psychotic depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 20:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14028009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisprentiss/pseuds/thisprentiss
Summary: Rory's fingers were suddenly laced with the Doctor's, thumb stroking circles over the back of his hand. "I'm not trying to be annoying, I just care about you, alright?"





	nobody's there

**Author's Note:**

> henlo friends im back with angst
> 
> here's a few things abt this small fic: reference to self harm (the actual self harming isn't in the fic), and brief discussion of eleven's disordered eating are both in here just as a warning

His sleeve hiked up and suddenly Rory was grabbing his arm.

"Oi, Doctor, what's this?" he asked with a concerned glance down at the five bandaids over the Doctor's wrist. Yanking his arm away, the Doctor tugged down the sleeve and moved to the other side of the console, "Did you hurt yourself?"

"Course I did, why else would I be wearing those things?" he said. Rory didn't seem to believe the cheerful tone in his voice.

"What did you do?"

The Doctor flipped a lever. "Oh you know, the usual, something clumsy and absurd that you'll scold me over. Is Amy here?" he turned and found Rory right back in his face, taking his wrist back into his hands and rolling up the sleeve carefully. "Rory..."

"Don't. You know I'm a nurse, yeah?" Rory pushed the sleeve past the bandaids and revealed jagged white scars sliced horizontally across his forearm moving up to the crease of the elbow. "There more of these under the bandaids?"

Sighing, the Doctor nodded. Rory returned the nod, breathing out through his nose. "You do this to yourself?" another nod, "How many times?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters. Doctor..."

"Only six this time, don't worry," he murmured, not looking up from where his eyes had locked on the ground.

Rory didn't comment, rolling the sleeve back down and letting the Doctor walk to a different part of the console. After a long moment of silence, he followed him. "Have you eaten today?"

"I've told you this a million times, Rory, I-"

"-don't have to eat?" Rory raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest, "When's the last time you ate something?" Before the Doctor even opened his mouth, Rory held up his finger, "And don't lie to me."

Reluctantly, the Doctor huffed out, "It's been a few weeks, will that stop your nagging?"

"That's not healthy, Doctor, I don't care if you're an alien, you've got to eat," Rory's fingers were suddenly laced with the Doctor's, thumb stroking circles over the back of his hand. "I'm not trying to be annoying, I just care about you, alright?"

"I know. I know," the Doctor closed his eyes and stood still for a long while, just feeling the warmth of Rory's hand in his own, the sound of his breathing, the smell of his clothes. It felt like the shortest forever when he finally pulled away, stepping back and taking a small cell phone out of his pocket. He held it up and pointed it at Rory, tears beginning to blur out the edges of his vision. "Say cheese, Mr. Pond."

"Doctor, what are you doing?" Rory half-laughed it, walking around behind the Doctor to watch him tap at the phone, "Who are you sending that to, why-" he squinted at the screen curiously, "Did River ask for a picture of me?"

"Yeah, she asked how her old man was getting along, thought I'd give her a visual," the Doctor smiled, turning the phone off and spinning around. Rory rolled his eyes, but couldn't help a smile.

"Well, tell her I said hello, and that she'd better visit soon."

The phone buzzed in the Doctor's hand, and he gave Rory a pair of finger guns. "Will do, _hot stuff!_ "

"Don't call me hot stuff."

The Doctor looked at the message from River, already knowing what it was going to say.

_No one there. Sorry, sweetie._

**Author's Note:**

> so , one of my biggest hcs for the eleventh doctor is that he's got psychotic depression that manifests in hallucinations (esp after angels take manhattan, when this is set) and it started getting to a point where it was completely overtaking his life, so river decided to help him cope by having him send her pictures if he was suspicious that something wasn't real. so that's what's going down.


End file.
